Roger Federer did was Roger Federer does to Andy Roddick, and that’s whip him. Today, Federer won his 21st match in 23 tries against Roddick dismantling the American 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals at the Basel Swiss Indoors.

In this matchup of former No. 1s, Federer never was broken as he cracked Roddick’s serve three times.

“We’ve played on so many occasions that sometimes you can’t play your best, and that’s what happened to Andy today,” said Federer after his best match of the tournament. “He didn’t have a very good serving day and then once I get a chance to get into all his service games, it’s always going to be difficult for him to find a way.”

Once again Roddick looked like he had little power from the backcourt, especially off the backhand which Federer picked apart.

“This is the first time I’ve played Stan here in Switzerland,” said Federer who is 9-1 against Stan. “We’ve faced off together 10 times and playing back in Switzerland is particularly special because I come from this town and Stan’s not too far away either. I think it’s a special occasion for Swiss tennis and the Swiss fans. He played incredibly well today, so I think this is going to be the test of the tournament for me so far.”

In the earlier semifinal, top seed Novak Djokovic clashes with surprising Kei Nishikori. Watching some of the Novak today the Serb really looked out of sorts in the first set – lots of bad errors and lackluster play – but pulled it together to beat Marcos Baghdatis 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

“A win is a win,” said Djokovic. “It was a close match. I’ve got to give credit to him because he played really well. He served throughout the whole match really well. I managed to get a couple of crucial breaks towards the end of the second and start of the third set and I think that decided the match.”

Nishikori’s a solid player who could trouble Novak if he gets into another one of those funks we saw today and he is playing with a lot of confidence.

“Djokovic is playing unbelievable this year,” Nishikori said. “He doesn’t have many weaknesses, so I will need to play a bit more aggressive than usual and play my best tennis to beat him.”

Yes you will, Kei.

So one day away from a potential blockbuster Federer-Djokovic final, and I think we’ll see it. Stan wouldn’t really beat Federer in his hometown, would he? And Novak should get his game on track against Nishikori who’ll give the World No. 1 a lot of rhythm.

In Valencia, Juan Martin Del Potro kept alive his slim chances of qualifying for London by beating Sam Querrey 6-2, 7-5 to reach the semifinals. If nothing else, at least Del Potro is finishing the year on a high note.

Delpo now plays Marcel Granollers, an upset winner over Gael Monfils. Like JW Tsonga yesterday, my guess is Monfils had plans in Paris this weekend!

In the second semifinal, defending champion David Ferrer faces Juan Monaco.

Tennis Channel has live Basel semifinals from 930am ET. The Valencia semis will be on tape starting at 8pm ET.

Nishikori wins the second set. The further we get in this tournament, the more I regret Murray’s injury. He could very well have won Basel.
On the BBC website it says the doctors think his problem may be related to the sciatic nerve. That does not sound good.

Colin: Me too, me too :( Sciatic nerve, if it’s so, very bad news, would mean he’s out of WTF as well :(
Nole clearly struggling and can’t seem to raise his game. Even if he pulls this out, can’t see him beating Fed.
Now 3-0, Nole needs something really special.

Well played Nishikori but poor, poor Nole :( This could mean the end of his Paris and WTF hopes. He’s had such a long rest from tennis and now this :(
Now I see Granollers, who has played beautiful tennis all week, has taken the first set. Come on :)

Well, there, as they say, is a turn up for the book!
Now all we need is Federer to lose, which is more likely (or less unlikely) than it would have been a couple of years ago.
As for Murray, he played amazingly well in – was it Monte Carlo? – with an arm full of cortisone. I wonder how he’d do with his botty full of the stuff!

Firstly Kei played inspired, lovely tennis from the second set on, and frankly Nole ‘s form has been uneven all week. He struggled versus both X-Man and Baggy too. But I suspect his right serving shoulder is still injured, and fear that this may be a chronic thing, kind of like Rafa’s knees – though they seem to be better now, don’t they? Anyhow, I am sure we will find out more. Personally I hope he was just outplayed and that it isn’t his shoulder. Would rather he lose than not be able to play at all!!

Del Potro played so well yesterday. He was hitting the forehand better than ever like his confidence in the wrist had returned. He took a MTO (not surprising) after losing the 1st set. I think he was saying he was sick. It wasn’t an injury. At least I hope it wasn’t.

Well things look good for Fed right now; if he plays well and is healthy he could maybe clean up like last year. If Murray and Nole can’t play Paris, and Rafa is out, and Delpo is sick, and Fish is injured Fed could win Paris, potentially, for the first time. Would that also get him closer to taking back number 3? Hmmm. He’d have to defend WTF too though. Interesting. I think i may pick Fed for Paris. Either him or possibly La Monf (who’s been in two finals) or Tsonga (who plays well at home) – but still have to look at draw!

Thanks for nice words steve-o. Yeah, can’t complain about Nole’s season obviously. :) Just want him to be fit and ready to go, is all.

I am happy for Nishikori. He’s a great player, and as Nole said, he gets back “impossible balls” and is fluid at the net too.

That didn’t come out right: we all know Fed could win Paris regardless of the others. What I meant was that he seems to be the “in form” player of the moment, and when Fed is in form he is dangerous to his chief rivals, and lethal to everyone else. So he is in a good position right now to win Basel, Paris and possibly defend WTF. Just not sure what’s up with Rafa and how hard he’ll be gunning for a WTF title. Similarly, not sure what’s up with Muzza, i.e., how serious his injury is, as he was looking like a real contender for the WTF too.

Granollers must save his best tennis for Valencia, that’s for sure. I don’t really know that much about him. But I liked what I saw. He had to beat Cilic and Monfils and del Potro. Monfils tanked a little, imo.

Sad to hear about nole. I think he should stick to what he was doing earlier this year: putting his health first as opposed to tourny’s. Skip Paris an if he slightly doubts his shoulder skip WTF. He’s won both of them before, he has nothing to prove this year, so why risk his preseason when 2012 will certainly be alot if only due to ranking points pressure, being the hunted one etc. Winning WTF would be the cherry on the cake, but the cake is already pretty impressive. Be smart nole.

Funny article carlo. I know it may seem like a tall order for Fed. But he is rested and ready, seemingly. And last year at this time, he won Stockholm, Basel, semis in Paris, and won WTF. So he has done it before, and recently too. It looks like he could do it again, too. But we’ll see. Maybe Delpo will be better for Paris as well, and he is always a dark horse. Plus he needs a masters shield to go with his slam, :)

i didnt see this coming,still congrats to kie,i think it just goes to show nothing can be taken for granted,sports very fickle like that i hope theres not too much damage to nole,hes had a fantastic year and doesnt have much left to prove,i agree with brando with a mountain to climb,and so many points to defend next season,a i think its the sensible thing, would be to call time on this season.

i cannot see kie been much of a problem for roger, but then again i didnt think he would be much of a problem for nole,just goes to show how wrong you can be,rogers been in the back ground a bit lately,so nice to see him in the mix and contesting a final once again,go roger go get that title.

carlo while the others are suffering from burn out after such a long season,roger is the one out of the top 4,whos always as fresh as a daisy,and plays the best at this time of the year,probably his sensible shedualing and such effortless style of play.

Monaco has not had a good year but he’s finally played some good tennis this match and the one before. He had another time out to get his legs stretched and he’s not giving up. Monaco is an example of someone with maybe more talent but he lacks David’s work ethic. Only a guess from watching them, I don’t know them, ha!

I like Kei very much too. Without taking away credit to murray i dont think Kei played well to lose to muzza 3 and 0 in shanghai. He is a better player than the score suggest. This is his best year so far. As federer said “He was injured a lot and wasn’t able to rise in the rankings like he was capable of….”
what he needs to do is to try stay injury free for a long period of time. i hope he does, he looks a top 10 material to me.

Ferrer got annoyed. I wasn’t sure exactly at the time what it was about, as my commentators were speaking in an Eastern European language but I think Ferrer lost it after Monaco had a trainer come and stretch him / treat him for something. That was some gamesmanship maybe on Juan’s part in the decider. Before that, Ferrer had the momentum and was up a break; after, he lost his break and his serve deserted him – 5 df’s – it wasn’t pretty.

The way Ferrer played the 2nd set so fast, I don’t think Monaco could have lasted. He had to slow it down. It will be interesting to see how the crowd responds to Monaco tomorrow.

Ferrer has always had that personality; he can get a little petulant, firey and/or frustrated at times, and it throws him off his usually steady game. But other times, his game – esp his serve – is prone to going off the boil. In other words, he’s not always completely consistent.

^ but then again, who is? Even the top 4 are prone to off days, weeks, meltdowns, etc. I have seen all of their games go off, and I’ve seen all of them – yes, even Fed and Rafa – have mental lapses or meltdowns with umps, etc. I guess they are just more consistently consistent than the rest, hence they’ve pretty much owed the top three or four spots for the last 4 years.